Methodist court rejects consecration of gay bishop

The United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that the consecration of its first openly gay bishop violated church law, compounding a bitter rift over homosexuality that has brought the 13-millionmember denomination to the brink of schism.

In a 6-3 vote made public Friday, the church’s Judicial Council found that a married lesbian bishop, and those who consecrated her, were in violation of their “commitment to abide by and uphold the church’s definition of marriage and stance on homosexuality,” according to the decision.

“Under the long-standing principle of legality, no individual member or entity may violate, ignore or negate church law,” the council ruled. “It is not lawful for the college of bishops of any jurisdictional or central conference to consecrate a self-avowed practicing homosexual bishop.”

The court ruled that the bishop, Karen P. Oliveto of Denver, “remains in good standing” pending further proceedings, offering her supporters a glimmer of hope. But it also raised the prospect of a suspension or forced retirement.

Oliveto was elected by the church’s Western Jurisdiction last summer and assigned to oversee about 400 congregations in Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

Her election was immediately challenged by the church’s South Central jurisdiction, which argued that the decision violated the church’s ban on ordaining gay people.

Stephen Drachler, a spokesman for the Western Jurisdiction’s college of bishops, called the Judicial Council’s decision a “mixed bag.” While it was “disappointing and disturbing” that Oliveto’s consecration was found to be in violation of church law, he said, “she remains a bishop of the church” for now.

He said that the bishops of the Western Jurisdiction, who were gathering in Dallas in advance of a larger meeting of Methodist bishops, would meet today to assess the decision and respond.

The country’s third-largest religious denomination, after the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, the United Methodist Church adopted language in 1972 declaring that “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” may not be ordained because “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.” Methodists have debated that language every four years at meetings of the church’s top decision-making body, the general conference.